SKIN DEEP MAGAZINE • 13Over in Melbourne, Victoria, the exhibition Our Bodies, Our Voices,
Our Marks thoughtfully captures the endurance of tattoo and
tradition. Fareed Kaviani sneaks a look behind the curtain:T
he Immigration Museum’s new group of exhibits
offer visitors a chance to engage with tattoo on
a level deeper than skin. Here, stories of culture,
tradition and migration speak through embed-
ded ink.
Without personally experiencing a tattoo, it may be
hard to understand why somebody would undergo the
painful procedure. For example, Joseph Banks, the 18th
century naturalist on board Cook’s first voyages, was
quite taken aback at the tattooing process of a Samoan
girl:
“What can be sufficient inducement to suffer so much
pain is difficult to say; not one Indian (tho I have asked
hundreds) would ever give me the least reason for it; pos-
sibly superstition may have something to do with it, noth-ur^ b
odie
s,
UR^ V
OICE
S,
OUR
MAR
KS
museumsvictoria.com.au/immigrationmuseum/whats-on/our-bodies-our-voices-our-marks/Visitors looking at photographs in Perseverance/Japanese Tattoo
Tradition in a Modern World © Ben Healley